


The other guy

by orehitosuji



Series: Idiot captains in love [2]
Category: DAYS (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-16 00:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8080348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orehitosuji/pseuds/orehitosuji
Summary: Sort of companion piece to "The Difficulty of Capturing an Idiot's Heart". Indou has gotten wind of how close Kasahara and Mizuki were, which is either going to give him heart problems or finally get him to do something about his feelings.





	

Indou Kaoru’s ~~stalking of~~ information on Mizuki Hisahito had yielded several key details. 

One: he was single. 

Two: he was guarded, to a nearly zealous extent, by his fellow batch-mates. More specifically, current vice-captain Usui, goalkeeper Inohara, and defender Haibara. They were the ones who kept an eye on Mizuki’s movements at all times to ensure that he didn’t get into trouble, especially Usui. 

Three: Seiseki’s coach kept an eagle eye on his players, especially Mizuki, at all times. He worked with the aforementioned third years to obtain a detailed working knowledge of his players’ conditions at all times, and allegedly knew who was dating at any point of time. 

All these details made for a near-insurmountable challenge in Indou’s goal to woo Seiseki’s idiot captain, but Saku High’s captain welcomed the difficulty. Besides, he believed that the efforts expended to win over Mizuki while dealing with his guard dogs would make the eventual victory even sweeter. So he schemed, strategized, and strained his mental faculties whenever he wasn’t at school or practice to map out his plans for winning Mizuki’s heart. He even forewent opportunities to peek at Shuuji’s sister Nacchan in order to come up with the best possible plan. And finally, after months of ~~stalking~~ establishing his presence around Mizuki to the point where he felt he’d worn the other captain down sufficiently, he went in for the kill. 

Well, asked him out for a meal, actually. But that was the crux of his masterplan to get himself an idiot of a boyfriend by the end of high school. If Mizuki rejected him, all his subsequent planned dates couldn’t take place until he came up with another way of wearing the boy down, so everything was hanging on the answer to that one question. As he waited with bated breath for an answer, Indou analysed the look on Mizuki’s face. Was that small frown a sign that he was going to say no? What about the way he was fidgeting with his bag? And there was the way he shifted his leg- 

“No.” 

One word was all it took to bring Indou’s world crashing down around his ears. Despite the crushing sense of disappointment and shock, he rallied enough to ask, “Is that ‘no’ to going out with me or…?” 

Mizuki considered the question. Indou took that as a sign that there was still hope, and decided to work his charms on the other boy to make him more amenable to starting a relationship with him. Stepping closer to Mizuki, he ducked his head so that their faces were barely centimetres apart. “Mizuki,” he murmured lowly, his eyes half-lidded (because he’d heard Nacchan squeal over how sexy smouldering gazes were, he’d worked hard on perfecting his). “answer me.” 

Unfortunately for Indou, Mizuki interpreted his smouldering gaze differently. “Why are you squinting your eyes at me? Do they hurt?” He asked, tilting his head (oh so adorably, in the other captain’s opinion). “Maybe you should go see a doctor, would be bad if you went blind now and couldn’t play.” He stopped, reconsidered his words, and corrected himself. “Actually, it’s okay if you went blind – it’d be a pity we couldn’t defeat you fair and square, but you probably deserve for being a nuisance.” 

“Wha- no, I wasn’t- don’t get distracted!” Saku High’s captain spluttered. Jabbing a finger in Mizuki’s face, he exclaimed, “Answer my question! Did you say no because you don’t want to go out with me, or-” 

“Oh, that,” Mizuki said tonelessly. “I can’t make it on that day because I’m chatting with Kasahara.” 

“Of all reasons to turn down a date with Kaoru- _sama-_ Wait, who’s Kasahara?” 

The Seiseki captain frowned at Indou. “Kasahara is Kasahara.” The implied ‘duh’ was strong, even though the statement didn’t make any sense. Indou felt a headache building up; he has to bear with the pain, though, in order to build resistance to the airhead that is Mizuki Hisahito. If he wants to be with the other boy until they’re both old, wrinkly and can’t get it up he has to get used to Mizuki’s odd logic, or he’ll probably die of frustration at an early age. To give himself strength, he took a deep breath before diving back into the conversation. 

“I know Kasahara is Kasahara,” Indou sighed. “What I’m asking is, who is he? I don’t remember seeing him on the team roster – is he your classmate at Seiseki?” 

A brief shadow flitted across Mizuki’s eyes. Indou caught it, but he’s unsure if he understood its providence. “Kasahara used to be on the team. He was my classmate too.” 

“Used to? Was?” 

“He moved away so he’s not at Seiseki anymore. And we already fixed a date to chat with each other, which means I can’t go out on that day.” 

 _Oh_. This is a problem Indou can fix easily. “How about you guys set a time for chatting, so you can still go out with me while getting back home in time to chat with Kasahara?” 

Mizuki shook his head. “No. I don’t want to.” 

In that moment, Indou felt as if lightning had crashed through his body, shocking all his nerve ends and leaving him to gape at the boy he liked. “Are you saying you’d rather wait around at home all day instead of settling on a time to call him? Isn’t that really unfair to me? Here I am, saying I’m deigning to spend some time with you on my rare free day, and instead of humbly accepting you’re rejecting me?” 

“I don’t care about your free time,” Seiseki’s captain glared at him. “Anyway, we’re rivals, so it’s weird to go around being buddies with each other. Plus you’re an idiot, so not going out with you isn’t a big loss. It might actually be a good thing for me, since I won’t catch your idiocy.” With that, he stalked off, denying Indou the chance to refute his words and leaving the Saku High captain with his jaw unhinged, wondering how the hell he had managed to ignore this possibility happening.

 

 

After spending an evening moaning to Shuuji and Nacchan about his pitiful life ( _not_ because his life was actually pitiful, but just to get Nacchan to cook curry for him), Indou felt re-energised enough to regroup and re-examine his plans to win Mizuki’s heart. An hour of careful consideration while running laps provided him with the answer: he needed more information. Specifically, information on this Kasahara person. And the only way to get information was to talk to someone at Seiseki, who would be gullible enough to divulge details without alarming the third-year guard dogs… 

“Indou- _san_!” 

“Ah, Tsukamoto!” Indou called back cheerily, mentally patting himself on the back for having stage one of his new plan succeed. He’d immediately thought of Tsukamoto, whose number he’d gotten (without permission; he’d used Tsukamoto’s phone to call his the day they’d played futsal together, just in case), as the one person in Seiseki who could supply him with information without suspicion. Tsukamoto was an honest, but terribly innocent person who had no cunning in him – he wouldn’t suspect that Indou had any dishonourable intentions in asking questions. Gleefully rubbing his hands together, he turned around to greet Tsukamoto- 

And had to fight to keep his face neutral at sight of the mop of blonde hair bobbing just a little behind the Seiseki first-year. “Oh, I see Kazama’s here too.” 

“Ah, yes!” Tsukamoto beamed. “I happened to be with Kazama- _kun_ when you called and asked for a futsal match, so I thought, since it wouldn’t be fun going up against me alone, since I’m so bad, it would be better if Kazama- _kun_ came along as well. Right?” He turned to his fellow teammate, who had a little smile on his face but a cold look in his eyes. In fact, those eyes were staring right at Indou…oh. 

“Haha! Well, I’m always up for a game of futsal, so I can’t resist when someone invites me.” Kazama laughed breezily while still staring daggers at Indou. He paused, seemingly struck by a thought, then posed a question. “But I didn’t know that you were close enough to Saku High’s captain to be called out for a game, Tsukushi. How’d you come to exchange numbers?” 

“Ah, we- eh?” Now it was Tsukamoto’s turn to be puzzled. “Did we exchange numbers, Indou- _san_?” 

“Of course we did!” Indou put on his most convincing voice and tried to laugh the whole thing off. “Man, you’re making me sad here Tsukamoto, forgetting that we exchanged numbers and all…” 

“S-sorry! I can’t believe I forgot something so important…” _Bingo_ , Indou thought. That should divert Kazama for a bit. 

“Ahh, let’s stop talking and start playing! We _did_ come here to play after all,” Kazama laughed, eager to change the topic and distract Tsukamoto. “Let’s go, Tsukushi.” 

“Y-yes!” 

So they play a few rounds, right until Indou deemed Tsukamoto tired enough and Kazama distracted enough to start with the questioning. Wary of Kazama blabbing to his seniors, he thought of sending him on an errand and stick to questioning Tsukamoto alone, but discarded the idea almost immediately. Kazama was bound to be more suspicious if separated from Tsukamoto, increasing the probability of his telling the Seiseki third-years and ruining Indou’s plans. As such, he settled for doing damage control while gathering information, and settled to one side with the Seiseki freshmen. “Ah, that was a good match,” he praised them. “Especially that one-two: you really got me there! Nice goal!” 

“Thank you!” Tsukamoto said it with a bright smile, Kazama with a polite one. It didn’t escape Indou’s notice that Kazama had put himself between Indou and Tsukamoto, and the gap between the two freshmen was nearly non-existent. However, Tsukamoto was oblivious; Indou smirked to himself and started tweaking his plans. His chance came when the next match started and a girl standing near them started cheering a guy’s name. 

“Ah, that’s so sweet of her. I bet she likes him and they’re dating,” Indou said casually. He stretched and continued, “Playing games an off-day’s great and all, but really, sometimes you wish that you had a girlfriend to accompany around too, huh?” 

“That’s true!” Pure, innocent Tsukamoto blushed and looked down at his lap. “Sounds nice, but I definitely won’t be able to have that.” 

“Eh? Why not? I bet there’s some girl in your school who finds you cute and probably watches all your matches secretly,” the Saku High captain grinned. He pretended to consider it for a while, then dropped the bomb: “Or if not a girl, maybe a guy instead.” 

“EHHHHHH?” This time, both Tsukamoto and Kazama reacted – Tsukamoto with a blush, Kazama with a genuinely shocked expression. They both stared at Indou with widened eyes. Kazama was the first to recover; he coughed, and with forced calmness, tried to laugh Indou’s comment off. “Haha, I don’t think- what makes you say that, Indou- _san_?” The expression in his eyes, though, was still wild and a little panicked. Indou fought a grin at the confirmation that his guess was right: Kazama had more-than-friendly feelings for Tsukamoto, and was totally going for the slow-and-steady route to win the boy’s heart. He pretended to think for a moment before giving the two freshmen a reply. 

“Oh, it’s not completely unheard of to have two guys in a relationship, especially in sports teams and all-guys schools. When you’re working hard towards the same goal together, sometimes feelings develop that go beyond camaraderie, you know.” He shrugged. “Haven’t you noticed as well, amongst your teammates? Some people tend to gravitate towards each other, and they’re always going off to do their own thing together…” 

“A-ah, like captain and Kasahara- _senpai_ before he left?” 

 _JACKPOT_ , Indou thought. Then, _Wait, what?_

 “Kasahara?” He asked, making sure to keep any trace of shock from his voice. “Who’s that? I don’t remember hearing Seiseki had such a player…” 

The look that came over Tsukamoto’s face at that was complicated. If Indou had to guess, he’d say it was a mixture of fondness, sadness, and regret. “Y-yeah, you probably…wouldn’t know him because he wasn’t, he wasn’t on the starting team. But he’s a really good player!” He added hastily, leaning forward over Kazama to look at Indou directly with eyes shining with fierce protectiveness. “Even though he wasn’t a regular-” 

Kazama draped his arm around Tsukamoto’s shoulders and pulled him back a little so he was leaning into his side rather than over his lap. “Yeah, he’s a good player, Kassano- _senpai_.” The look he directed at Indou dared him to say otherwise, but Indou got it. Not everyone who joined the team could play in an official match, not because they weren’t good but because there was someone better. As a captain, the weight of their hopes rested heavily on him too, at times. 

To lift the heavy atmosphere and get the information he wanted, Saku High’s captain decided to move carefully around this sore point. “So, your Kasahara- _senpai_ was really close to Mizuki, huh?” 

“Yeah, they were in the same class I think?” Tsukamoto, distracted by the turn in their conversation, furrowed his brow and thought hard. “Also, they came to practice at the same time, sometimes left together too…I saw them eating lunch together once in the cafeteria…” 

Kazama had been nodding in agreement with Tsukamoto’s words, though with a frown on his face. Indou watched him even as he paid attention to what the other Seiseki freshman was saying, and caught the exact moment when he seemed to figure something out – his eyes widened and he snapped his head up to look at Indou. In reply, Indou pointedly stared at Tsukamoto, now rambling about how “Kasahara- _senpai_ and captain just _seemed_ close, even though they didn’t really interact much during practice” and lifted an eyebrow meaningfully. The blonde settled back down, but Indou didn’t think for a moment that he would let this go; that devious brain of his was probably already thinking about how to turn this to his advantage. 

 _No matter. Just get as much information as you can and go_. “So,” he broke into Tsukamoto’s ramblings casually, “you said that your Kasahara- _senpai_ ’s not here anymore?” 

That prompted the return of Tsukamoto’s complicated face. “Yes, he had to go away for personal reasons.” 

“Ah…” Indou badly wanted to ask if they thought Mizuki had a thing going on with this other person while he was still in Seiseki, but knew that would be pushing it. Kazama already knew and was on alert; no reason to get even Tsukamoto suspicious. “You really have some interesting stories going on over at Seiseki!” He laughed, changing the subject. “Tell me more next time, yeah?” 

“Yes, Indou- _san_!” 

“Ah, Tsukushi, we shouldn’t, he’s the enemy…”

 

“Kaoru?” 

“Hmmm?”

“Do you think you could stop moping about on my living room floor?” Narukami asked pointedly. 

“Mmmm.” 

A vein popped in Narukami’s forehead. “See?” He gestured dramatically at the lump that was supposed to be his captain. “He’s been like this since futsal yesterday.” 

“Oh?” Kisaragi peered at Indou. “Did he lose?” 

“No, it’s about _Mizuki_.” 

“Ahhh.” The rest of the third-year starters chorused. Their idiot captain’s crush on Seiseki’s equally idiotic captain was the worst-kept secret amongst them – they were always surprised by how their coach hadn’t noticed it yet. “What’s the problem this time?” Tori grumbled as he flopped down onto the floor near the Indou-lump. “Can’t stand the perfection of Mizuki’s butt anymore? Saw Mizuki lift up his shirt, revealing his abs? Caught Mizuki in the arms of another man?” 

At that last one, Indou jolted upright, startling everyone else in the room. “Shit,” Kondou muttered. “Really? You saw Mizuki with someone else? Who?” 

Indou collapsed back onto the floor with a groan, and rolled until he could deposit his head in Tori’s lap. The other boy pushed it away immediately and shifted so he could use Nekotani as a shield against any further attempts to turn his lap into a pillow. “Mean,” the captain whined. To Kondou he said, “Well, not _exactly_ saw him with someone else, but apparently he’s close to some guy who just moved away.” 

“That’s not good,” Nekotani mumbled. 

“Understatement of the year,” Indou sighed, while Narukami rolled his eyes dramatically. “How do I win him over from the other guy?” 

Everyone else exchanged glances. They ranged from _I can’t believe he’s actually asking us this_ to _You tell him._ Eventually Kisaragi ventured to say, cautiously, “Actually, captain, if we were to be honest…” 

“Yeah?” 

“Apart from your skill at soccer, you don’t really have much going on. So we don’t think we can help you win Mizuki over.” 

Silence. 

Then chaos as Indou sprung up with a battle cry to throw himself at the traitors he called teammates, while they either fought back (Kondou and Tori) or ran away (Nekotani). It took Nacchan hitting them all with a wooden ladle to calm down and behave. 

Later at night, when everyone else had left and it was just Indou crashing in Narukami’s room as usual, Narukami deigned to give his partner on the field some hope. “You know, it’s quite likely that Mizuki and that other guy aren’t in a relationship.” 

“Really?” Indou turned in his futon to give Narukami a hopeful look. 

“Yeah. I mean, you put so much effort into stalking him so he’d notice you, but all he did was think of you as a nuisance.” Indou protested, but Narukami shushed him. “So I think the other guy, even if he did or does like Mizuki, probably wouldn’t have gotten any further than you. Being on the same team could’ve also made it harder for him to say anything, since he would’ve felt the burden of not wanting to distract his captain.” 

“Hey, I feel that burden too-” 

Narukami talked over his friend like he hadn’t said anything. “And if he knew he was going to move away, he might’ve been considerate about it and chose not to say anything. This is why I think you don’t have anything to worry about, Kaoru. Your path is clear – just go for it.” 

“Shuuji!” Overcome with gratitude, Indou launched himself at his friend only to be met in the face by Narukami’s pillow. Narukami laughed, they had a mini pillow fight until Nacchan came in to yell at them, and all was right with the Indou-Narukami combination.

 

 

“Yo, Mizuki!” 

Mizuki turned around. “Geh, Indou.” 

“Is that how you normally greet people? How rude of you.” Indou sidled up to Mizuki and threw an arm around his shoulders. He was naturally shoved away roughly for his efforts, but simply laughed the resistance off and persisted until Mizuki gave up and decided to pretend he was doing something charitable by allowing Indou to be so near. Once settled, Indou spoke again. “This isn’t near your house – are you lost again?” 

“Shut up.” 

“Ahaha, you are, aren’t you! Come on, I’ll bring you home.” Indou used his heavier body mass and arm around Mizuki’s shoulders to get him moving. To his surprise, there wasn’t much resistance; Mizuki must have been wandering around for quite a while and gotten tired, hence his obedience to his rival’s guidance. They walked in silence for a while, until Indou caught sight of a small shop selling _n_ _ikuman_. “Hey,” he nudged his companion, “want one?” 

Seiseki’s captain ignored him, but his stomach rumbled loudly. Indou laughed and ruffled Mizuki’s hair affectionately. “You’re not saying anything but your body’s honest. I’ll give you another chance: want a _nikuman_?” 

“…only if you’re buying and promise not to put anything weird into it.” 

“I won’t! What kind of a person do you think I am, anyway?” 

“Usui says you’re a stalker, but I think you’re a nuisance and an idiot.” 

“That hurts, it really does.” Indou mock-pouted as he walked backwards towards the shop, keeping Mizuki within view. “Wait right there and don’t go away; I’ll be back soon, okay?” 

When he stepped out with a _nikuman_ in each hand, he was half-expecting to find Mizuki gone – but no, the other boy was leaning against the side of the shop scuffing at the dirt with a foot. Indou suppressed a sigh of relief, and instead thrust a _nikuman_ at Mizuki. “Here, straight from the steamer with nothing funny added to it. Okay?” 

Mizuki grabbed the bun and smiled. The sight of his smile had Indou rooted to the spot, for he’d never seen Mizuki smile, not like this, childishly pleased and sincere. It took Mizuki walking away from him in the wrong direction to snap him out of it. “Oi, not there, you idiot, this way!” And he hurried after the other boy to drag him in the correct direction. They walked and ate their _nikuman,_ again in silence, and were almost halfway to Mizuki’s house when _it_ happened. At first Indou thought it was his imagination, that his desire for Mizuki had made him delusional, yet when he snuck a glance to the side he was sure it was really happening. As they walked, Mizuki had drifted a little closer to Indou such that their arms would occasionally brush against each other. Wondering if this was a coincidence, the captain of Saku High’s team decided to try his luck. He deliberately moved sideways so their arms were now pressed together and, lo and behold, Mizuki didn’t move away or pick a fight about being so close to each other. Inner-Indou squealed and ran around hysterically in circles. Outer-Indou kept a poker face on so he didn’t alarm the other boy and cause him to escape. 

They walked on for a while longer like that, until Indou reached his limit. He stopped, turned and grabbed Mizuki by the shoulders, spinning him around so they were facing each other. “Ah, I can’t take this anymore,” he declared. “Mizuki!” 

“Indou? What’re you trying to do, you idiot? You’re being a nuisance.” 

“No I’m not, there’s no one else here.” Indeed, the path they were taking was deserted – they were the only ones around. “Mizuki, I’ve got something to ask you.” 

“Hah? What the hell’s so important that you have to grab me? Anyway, you should let me go first, stupid. You’re starting to hurt me.” 

“Oh – sorry.” Abashed, Indou loosened his grip then continued. “Mizuki! Are you going out with anyone?” 

“I’m outside with you now, aren’t I?” 

“No, not that!” Resisting the urge to smack himself in the forehead, Indou tried again. “Are you dating anyone?” 

Mizuki took some time to consider this question. Indou sweated nervously as he waited for an answer. “No, I’m not. There’s no time to date when there’s soccer to be played.” 

“Yeah, that’s right! Wait, no, I take that back.” Persisting in the face of Mizuki’s irritation, the captain of Saku High’s soccer team kept up his questions. “Do you have someone you like now? In a romantic way?” 

The recipient of his questions frowned. “Huh?” 

“Are you in love with Kasahara?” 

“No, you idiot. Kasahara’s my friend.” 

“Really? Okay, that’s good Kaoru. You have a chance.” Mizuki was starting to look like he wanted to run away, so Indou made sure he kept a firm grip before telling the other boy, “Okay, I have something very important to tell you, so listen up.” 

“Get on with it. I’m only letting you do this because you bought me a _nikuman_.” 

“Right, okay, great.” Indou took a deep breath. “I thought I could hold back until we both graduated at least, but your ass looks too fine whenever you bend over to tie your shoelaces – seriously, you need to stop doing that or I’ll get a nosebleed on the pitch one day – and if I delay any longer I feel like I’ll never tell you until I’m so old I can’t get it up. So,” another deep breath, “I’m in love with you, Mizuki Hisahito. Will you go out with me? And when I say go out,” he added hastily, “I mean like dating-” 

“Yeah, okay.” 

“-so don’t tell me we’re already out- wait, what? Really?” 

“Yeah, as long as you do something first.” 

“Anything for you, my sweet honey.” Buoyed by the provisional acceptance, Indou regained enough of his usual swagger to pull Mizuki into him and give him a loud smooch on the cheek, despite the other boy’s valiant attempts to resist. He wanted to follow it up with a commemorative grope of Mizuki’s fine ass, but resisted. Their tentative relationship might be over before it really began if he did. “What do you want me to do?” 

“Go to a convenience store and buy me my favourite food. If you can do that, we can date.” Mizuki nodded wisely. 

Indou blinked at his almost-boyfriend. “…really? That simple?” 

Mizuki frowned at him. “What did you say about my test?” 

“Nothing! Let’s go to a convenience store right now, then!” As they continued on their way, now hand-in-hand (with Indou straining to hold onto Mizuki’s hand, which he kept trying to pull away), Indou muttered, “I don’t know if I should be worried that you’re so simple or grateful that I got here first before the other conniving guys.” 

“Huh? Did you say something?” 

“Nope! Ah, we’re here! Come on, Mizuki, our lovely future as a couple is only a few hundred yen away!”

 

 

“So…looks like you had a good weekend, Indou? You’re in fine form today,” Ooshio- _kantoku_ smiled at the captain of the team he was coaching. 

“Yes, sir, I did!” Indou saluted and beamed. His smile was so bright, Ooshio felt like he had to squint against it. “Ah, it’s my turn for shooting practice. If you’ll excuse me, coach!” 

Ooshio watched Indou jog away, then turned to the other third-year regulars on the team. “Did something good happen to Indou over the weekend?” 

The five of them groaned in unison. “You really don’t want to know, _kantoku_ ,” Kisaragi sighed. 

Out on the field, Indou scored a perfect 10 out of 10 goals and whooped loudly, shouting something that sounded suspiciously like “my sweet Mizuki has given me new strength”.

 

 

Nakazawa sighed heavily and rested his head on his hands. “So we’ve failed, huh.” 

To his side, Usui nodded gravely. “Unfortunately, yes. If the hickey on the side of Mizuki’s neck is any indication-” 

“Ah, please stop. I don’t particularly want to hear about…those kinds of things, Usui.” 

“Sorry, _kantoku_.” 

At Usui’s side, Haibara piped up, “But to be fair, Indou was reaaaaaallly persistent! He kept appearing whenever we weren’t around Mizuki to protect him, like that time he made too many fouls and was kept out of the match.” Inohara and Usui nodded in agreement. “Also, it got a lot harder when Kasahara left and we couldn’t use the rumours of them being together to deter him.” 

Nakazawa sighed again and waved a hand dejectedly. “Never mind, then. New mission: make sure to thwart Indou so Mizuki’s performance won’t be adversely affected.” 

“Can we use laxatives this time?” Usui asked sweetly. “You really can’t taste them if it’s in curry-” 

“NO.”


End file.
